Material handling apparatus



Filed July 20; 1938 I 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Albert Henderson Oct. 24, 1939. HENDERSQN 2,177,525

MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed July 20, 1938 s Sheets-She et 2 40 V INVENTOR Alb erzflHendersan '5 Sheds-Sheet 3 INVENTOR m p m 6 m r m A Y 'A. HENDERSON Filed July-20, 1958 MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS W M M Oct. 24, 1939. A, HENDERQN v 2,177.525

MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed July 20, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR AZberz HeJ2der.s0n

m, M-/ M 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 A. HENDERSON MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed July 20,. 1938 Oct. 24, 1939.

INVENTOR Albert Henderson Patented Oct. 24, 1939 MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Albert Henderson, Edgewood, Pa., assignor to William P. Wltherow, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application July 20, 1938, Serial No. 220,253

. 7 Claims. (01. 214-852) This invention relates to apparatus for handling materials and, in particular, to apparatus for vloading material on a vehicle for transport, and

unloading it therefrom.

The usual method of loading materials on a vehicle and unloading them therefrom by hand is very inefficient since it involves the double handling of each piece or package. Such handling is injurious to certain classes of material. Concrete blocks, for example, hollow tile and the like, are

subject to chipping and breakage by careless handling. A more serious objection to the loading and unloading of articles or packages by hand, however, is the time and manual effort required.

ll The vehicle is idle during loading and unloading periods so it is desirable to reduce them to a minimum. Conversely, however, "the workmen who load the vehicle are idle while the latter is making its trip unless there are other vehicles to be 20 loaded.

I have invented a mechanism for loading and unloading vehicles in a relatively short time, and

. with a minimum of manual labor. In a preferred form of the invention, a vehicle such as a motor 25 truck is provided with suitable supports for a travelling hoist. Telescoping beams on the supports carry a trolley beam. The telescoping beams are extensible in one direction and the trolley beam in a direction at right angles thereto.

30 A hoist movable along the trolley beam thus permits a load to be placed on the vehicle body or removed therefrom in a very eflicient manner.

My invention also contemplates a novel form of lift'for stacked articles such as concrete blocks 85 having spaced voids therein with transverse webs.

The lift comprises tong like members adapted to be inserted through the voids in stacked blocks and means for contracting the tongs'whereby to raise a plurality of blocks simultaneously. The follow- 40 mg detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings illustrating a present preferred embodiment thereof.

In the drawings: I Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a vehicle having the 48 invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the lift; Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line so IV-IV of Fig. 3;

' Fig. 5 is a partial perspective view showing a detail;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI'VI of Fig. 1; l 55 Fig. '1 is a sectional view taken along a vertical plane extending longitudinally of the vehicle and on the near side of the trolley beam;

Fig. 8 is a partial plan view illustrating the operation of the telescoping beams and the trolley beam; and 6 Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing a preferred method of stacking concrete blocks after molding and curing, prior to aging and delivery to the point of use.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, a 10 vehicle it such as a motor truck, has a bed ll adapted to receive the load. Posts or columns l2, which may conveniently be tubular in form, extend upwardly from each corner of the bed -ll, being positioned in sockets l3 secured thereto. The posts may be adjusted vertically by means of pins I1 and holes l8. Downward extensions M are slidably received in the posts l2 and have screw jacks l5 threaded therein provided with suitable ground engaging feet i6. The extensions M are secured in adjusted position in the posts I2 by pins i1 cooperating with spaced holes i8 in the extensions II and posts themselves. The former may be tubular as are the posts 12.

Cross rails l9 and 20 (see Figs. 1', '7 and 8) are 5 supported on the posts l2, being carried on brackets 2| and 22. As shown in Fig. 1, the cross rails are preferably built up by welding angles 23 to a plate 24. Rollers 25 journaled in suitable bearings in the angles and plates and spaced along the an length of the cross beams, support a telescoping member such as a channel 26 for movement longitudinally along the crossbeam.

A trolley beam 21 (see Fig. 6) is composed of an I-beam 28 having plates 29 disposed parallel to its 5 web and welded to its flanges. Rollers 30 journaled in suitable bearings in the plates 29 and the web of the I-beam support extensible members in the form of channels 3i for movement longitudinally of the beam 28.. A trolley carriage 32 is movable along the channels 3| on rollers 33 and is provided with a chain block hoist 34. The channels 3| are preferably tied together at the rear end of the I-beam 28. L

Channels 35 extend across plates 36 overlying opposite endsof the beam 28. The channels 35 provide bearings for shafts 31. Wheels 38 on the shafts 31 travel along the lower flanges of the channels 26 whereby the trolley beam 21 may be shifted laterally by bodily sidewise movement.

It will be understood from the description already given that the trolley beam 21 may be moved to points beyond opposite sides of the vehicle. Suitable stops confine the wheels 38 within the channels 26. Similar stops prevent a wall.

movement of the channels 26 out of the cross rails beyond a predetermined distance. The trolley carriage is similarly confined between the ends of the channels 3| but the latter-are permitted to move rearwardly along the beam 28 to limiting position in which a suitable fraction, say onethird, of the length of the channels 3| remains within the flanges of the beam 28; By this arrangement, the invention makes it possible to pick up a load from either side of the vehicle or'the rear thereof and deposit it on the bed or vice versa.

In my copendlng application, Serial No. 62,965 filed February 8, 1936, now Patent No. 2,131,474, granted Sept. 27, 1938, for Method and apparatus for making concrete articles, I have disclosed a method of making concrete blocks according to which the blocks are deposited onskips or carriers for aging. The nominal dimensions of these blocks are usually 8 x 8 x 16 or 8 x 12 x 16. Fig. 9 shows one of the skips at 40, in the process of being loaded with blocks' A skip four feet wide will accommodate four rows of the larger size blocks or six rows of the smaller size. The skips are preferably of such length, e. g., seven feet, as to accommodate a convenient number of blocks lengthwise without exceeding the width of the usual vehicle bed. Eyes 4| at the corners of the skips 4. permit them to be lifted by the hoist 34, with the aid of slings or the like. It will be apparent that loaded skips such as'that shown at 4'' in Fig. 1 can readily be picked up from either side or the rear of the truck Ill and deposited on the bed thereof.

Figs. 1 to 5 illustrate a lift for removing stacked blocks from the skips en masse, without the necessity of individually handling each block. This mechanism comprises a central longitudinal I- beam 45 provided with a U-bolt 4i adapted to receive the hook of the hoist 34. Angles 41 and plates 48 extend transversely of the I-beam at opposite ends thereof. Channels 48 are disposed on the beams formed by the angles 41 and the plates 48 in spaced apart relation and parallel to the beam 45. Gripper bars 50 depend in pairs from the channels 49 and pivoted thereon at Ii. The bars 50 are ribbed as at 52 to increase their rigidity and shaped at their lower ends as indicated at 53 to cooperate with the flaringupper edge 4 of the transverse web 55 dividing the voids ll usually provided in a concrete block. The flared upper edge 54 servesas a hand hold for the convenience of the workmen in placing the block in a The pairs of bars Ill and the channels 49 are so spaced that when the lift is lowered into a stack of blocks, one gripper bar of each pair descends channels 49 with tongs.

through the alined voids on each side of the transverse webs of each individual stack of blocks. The bars 50 and channels 49 are adjustable as to spacing apart so that 12" or 8" blocks can be handled, the 8" blocks requiring two additional Also the tongs may be made adjustable up and down so that one layer, two layers or three layers of blocks may be handled. In some cases the skip will not be carried by truck as the block tongs can deposit them from storage onto the truck.

Angles 51 extending transversely of the I-beam 45 and secured thereto as by rivets 58 engage the right hand bar 50 of each pair. A screw shaft 59 extends loosely through-the vertical legs of the angles 51. Angles 60 disposed adjacent the left hand bars 50 of the several pairs, as shown in Fig. 3 have threaded holes in them adapted to receive the shaft 59. A crank BI is secured to one end of the shaft 59. By turning the crank 6i, the angles 60 can be caused to approach or recede from the angles 51, thus causing the bars 58 to grip or release the transverse web of the bottom block'in each stack. Guide rods We extend through the angle bars to maintain the movable angles parallel to the fixed angles at all times.

When the truck has been loaded, as already explained, and driven to the point where the blocks are to be used, the lift is lowered so that the bars 50 descend through the voids of the stacked blocks. The bars ill must obviously be in their open position when being inserted into the voids.

Springs 2 between the bars on the guide rods Ila insure full opening thereof when the shaft it has been unscrewed.

When the bars 50 have been inserted, they may be contracted by turning the crank 61 as previously explained. The entire mass of blocks may now be lifted by the hoist l4 and deposited at the desired point. When this has been accomplished, unscrewing the shaft it releases the gripper bars so that the lift can be used on the next skip load of blocks.

In delivering materials to a building site, it often happens that the truck must be stopped for unloading on unlevel ground. The extensions l4 and screw jacks l5 permit the cross rails and trolley beams ii of the truck to be level either independently of or simultaneously with the truck frame, to facilitate unloading at points where the ground is not level. If both the pins I! and I1 associated with each post i2 remains in place, the'truck frame is tilted, as shown in Fig. 1', when the load is leveled by the screw jacks. If it is desired to level the cross rails and trolley beam independently of the body, the upper pin ll which locks the posts l2 in the sockets I! may be removed. The lower pins ll' fix the extensions l4 relative to the posts I! which may then be raised or lowered as may be necessary to level without raising the truck bodily. Thisfeature also permits lowering of the posts I! during transport to reduce the required overhead clearance. After loading the truck, for example, the jack screws may be employed to lower the posts l2 so that their bottom ends depend below the bed ll. When the pointof delivery is reached, of

. course, the posts l2 should be raised to their full loading and unloading operations. This time saving means that the truck is actually operating for a greater portion of the time than in the case of hand loading. A further advantage is the reduction in chipping, breakage and the like, a large part of which is the result of manual handling piece by piece. The invention may be used for handling articles other than blocks. Piles of lumber, cement sacks or the like may easily be handled by means of slings. The ability to load or unload a truck from either side or the rear is a distinct advantage because frequently the truck driver has little or no choice as to how he shall approach the point of delivery, whfle the-load must usually be placed in a particular spot on the Job.

Although I have illustrated and described but a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that changes therein may be made without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims. The hoisting frame may be operated by the truck engine if desired.

I claim:

1. Loading and unloading mechanism for a vehicle comprising supporting members extending upwardly from the vehicle frame, cross rails carried on said members, a trolley beam movable laterally on said rails, said rails and beam being extensible laterally and longitudinally, respectively, and a hoist movable along said beam.

2. Material handling mechanism adapted to be mounted on a vehicle body comprising a trolley beam, telescoping end beams transverse to the trolley beam, wheels mounted adjacent the ends of the trolley beam adapted to travel along said end beams, an extensible member movable along said trolley beam, and a hoist adapted to travel along said member. 1

3. Material handling mechanism adapted to be mounted on a vehicle body comprising a trolley beam extending longitudinally of the vehicle, means including telescoping beams supporting said trolley beam for bodily movement sidewise to points beyond the sides of the vehicle, said trolley beam mounting an extensible member movable therealong to the rear of the vehicle, and a hoist movable along said member.

4. Loading and unloading mechanism for a vehicle comprising columns adjacent the corners of the load-supporting surface of the vehicle, lateral telescoping beams mounted on said supports, a telescoping trolley beam traveling on said lateral beams, and jacks on said columns, extending downwardly therefrom and adapted to engage the ground for leveling the vehicle.

5. Loading and unloading mechanism for a vehicle as defined by claim 4 and characterized by said Jacks being adjustably secured to said columns.

6. Loading and unloading mechanism for a vehicle as defined by claim 4 and characterized by said columns being tubular and said jacks being slidably received in the lower ends thereof.

7. Material handling apparatus comprising two pairs of columns, a cross rail connecting the columns of each pair, a traveling beam movable lon- 'gitudinally of each rail, a trolley beam having wheels adjacent the ends thereof traveling on said rails, an extensible member movable longitudinally of said beam, and a carriage traveling on said member.

ALBERT HENDERSON. 

